How Long Does Wine Last Unopened?

How long does wine last unopened?

By TheWholePortion

Page last updated: 03/22/2023 | Next review date: 03/22/2025

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In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “how long does wine last unopened” with an in-depth analysis of the shelf life of unopened wine. Moreover, we are going to discuss the shelf life of opened wine, factors affecting the quality of the wine, and the proper way to store wine.

So without much ado, let’s dive in and figure out more about it.

How long does wine last unopened?

When it comes to wine, different types of wine have different shelf lives depending upon the ingredients present in their formulation as well as the processing techniques which they had to go through.

White wine

Unopened white wine lasts for about 1-2 years past the expiration date that is written on the bottle if it is stored in a cool, dry, and dark corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.

Red wine

Unopened red wine lasts for about 2-3 years past the expiration date that is written on the bottle if it is stored in a cool, dry, and dark corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.

Cooking wine

Unopened cooking wine lasts for about 3-5 years past the expiration date that is written on the bottle if it is stored in a cool, dry, and dark corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.

Fine wine

Unopened fine wine lasts for about 10-20 years if it is stored in a cool, dry, and dark corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.

Thus we can say that the unopened wine lasts for about a year to almost 20 years depending upon the type of wine.

How long does open wine last?

Sparkling wine

Open sparkling wine lasts for about 1-2 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Light white and rose

Open light white and rose wine lasts for about 4-5 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rich white wine

Open rich white wine lasts for about 3-5 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Red wine

Open red wine lasts for about 3-6 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dessert wine

Open dessert wine lasts for about 3-7 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Port wine

Open port wine lasts for about 3-7 days if it is properly stored in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

What is the alcoholic content of wine?

Wine contains 5.5 to 20% of ABV (Alcohol by volume) in its formulation. Thus different types of wines have different alcoholic content.

What are the factors that affect the quality of wine once it gets opened?

Once you open your bottle of wine, you will notice that its flavor starts to fade slowly with time. The two factors that are responsible for this gradual change are oxygen and the volatility of alcohol.

There are many volatile compounds present in the formulation of wine and each time you open your wine bottle, they evaporate a bit.

Moreover, each time you open your wine bottle air (oxygen) enters your wine that can initiate oxidation reactions in it, thereby decreasing the quality of the wine. So the more oxygen that finds its way to your wine bottle, the more will be the change in flavor that you will notice.

Moreover light and heat also degrade the quality of the wine. It is worth mentioning that the lighter wines have a shorter shelf life than the darker wines.

You can read how to tell if your wine has gone bad here.

How to properly store wine?

The wine starts to lose its characteristic flavor when it comes in contact with the air and sunlight owing to the oxidation reactions. Therefore to seal the freshness of wine for quite a long time we recommend you always close the lid/cap of the wine bottle as soon as you are done pouring the wine that you need.
Moreover, it is recommended to refrigerate the wine once it gets opened because the cool temperature of the fridge decreases the rate at which wine deteriorates.
On the other hand, an unopened bottle of wine can be stored in a cool, dry, and dark corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.
Temperature fluctuations can degrade the quality of the wine so you should take care of this.

Conclusion

In this brief guide, we answered the question “how long does wine last unopened” with an in-depth analysis of the shelf life of unopened wine. Moreover, we discussed the shelf life of opened wine, factors affecting the quality of the wine, and the proper way to store wine.